STR4572 Management Consulting

(Formerly MOB4572)
4 Advanced Management CreditsElite armies of management consultants are at work advising companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to mid-sized Private Equity portfolio companies across all industries (and government) addressing such topics as market attractiveness, mergers & acquisitions, business strategy, operating and cost efficiencies, information/data management, human performance, and development/coaching of leadership. The over 700,000 firms (globally) that comprise this $250 Billion industry, employing the best students from leading business schools, use proprietary methodologies and tools to deliver real shareholder value to their clients. The objective of this course is to introduce to those students who seek to compete and prosper by addressing exigent business issues-that cannot be solved by leading firms without assistance from credentialed consultants-the skills necessary to be successful in the management consulting industry. This will be accomplished by reviewing the content and process frameworks and methodologies used by leading consulting firms, inculcating the perspective of the client when addressing challenging business issues, and helping students consider some of the career and lifestyle issues inherent in a consulting career. Topics will be introduced in facilitated discussions, in-class exercises, cases, and some selected pre-readings. In addition, there will be a group project-using client materials from a real company with which I was involved prior to coming to Babson-that will replicate a "typical" consulting project.

For more information: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/tjdwy

Prerequisites or co-requisites: ASM3300

MOB3534 Management Consulting Field Experience
4 General CreditsThe Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE) course provides an excellent opportunity for students to apply principles that they learn in the classroom to real-world consulting projects. The students gain practical experience by solving actual business situations. Students also develop key skills in negotiation, group dynamics, organization, and planning. Previous projects include financial advisory, corporate finance, investment management, marketing, data analytics, and business strategy. Teams of four to six undergraduate students work as a consulting group for a sponsor company. The students meet with representatives of the company, analyze the problem, and explore possible solutions. The project concludes with a formal report and a presentation to the sponsor company comprising the group's recommendations. This course meets twice per week. During the fall semester class will meet Monday's and Wednesday's from 11:30-1:00 PM, in the spring semester meetings will be scheduled by team and MBA Project Leader at mutually convenient times. For more information: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/jrbdx

Prerequisites: Minimum GPA of 2.7, 2nd semester Sophomore, Junior or Senior status by the beginning of the project, and Permission of Experiential Learning Programs Associate Director

STR3510 Moonshot Innovations

4 Advanced Management Credits

This course will provide Babson students with a deeper understanding of how a strategic approach to "moonshot" innovations can solve significant societal challenges. We will explore several historical examples, focusing on the original and emergent strategies and technologies, the characteristics of successful teams, and the role of strategic problem solving.

Today's world faces seemingly insurmountable challenges: a global pandemic, rapid climate change, and income inequality at the top of a growing list. Businesses have been faulted for contributing to these challenges, but are also looked upon as strategic partners in finding solutions. Understanding the strategies that organizations and individuals can apply in solving today's "moonshot" challenges requires us to deconstruct the strategic approaches of others who solved the seemingly insurmountable challenges of their day.

This course will examine past moonshots to learn the strategies, innovations, and processes that enable teams to achieve what most thought impossible. We will also look at failed moonshot efforts and explore how businesses and entrepreneurs can avoid their fate as they apply their energy and efforts to address today's challenges.

Prerequisites: None

STR3506 Mysteries, Puzzles and Imagination

(Formerly MOB3506 Mysteries, Puzzles and Wicked Problems)
4 Advanced Management Credits

The course will help you learn how to think insightfully and become a skilled problem solver. Excelling in both is essential for success, no matter what your choice of career. Employers rank critical thinking and problem solving as prized skills that are difficult to find in business school graduates. A rising number of companies look for these skills using case interviews.

We will learn a variety of techniques and approaches to solving strategic, consequential, and wicked problems. Wicked problems are messy, multifaceted, lack sufficient information, and are difficult to solve. It is easy to get them wrong, especially under time pressure. We will approach them as mysteries or puzzles to better solve them. And we will learn how imagination might play a role in solving business problems.

Using various techniques and ways to think, we will learn to frame problems well to make sense of messy, ambiguous situations; identify needed evidence without wasting time on irrelevant information, draw upon different business disciplines but not be limited by any, find the story in numbers, use judgment, be original, and so much more. Throughout the course, I will ask you how you thought and made decisions and how others thought and made decisions. Effective problem solving needs such awareness about oneself and others.

The course uses a workshop format to emphasize in-class exercises and practice. We will minimize using conventional cases (14 pages of text and many more with exhibits). Instead, to simulate case interviews and workplace realities, we will use cryptic cases and live cases.

Few business schools teach problem solving rigorously. Acquiring this skill will differentiate you in the job market, prepare you for doing well in case interviews, and position you for success in your career of choice.

Prerequisites: None

MOB3580 Negotiations
4 General Credits

** This course is recommended for juniors and seniors **

This course explores the many ways that individuals think about and practice conflict resolution. Students will have a chance to learn more about their own negotiating preferences and the consequences of the choices they make. The course requires both intensive involvement in negotiation and mediation simulations/exercises and thoughtful application of theory through class discussion and written analysis. Class materials will reflect a variety of contexts from the workplace, including interpersonal, global, and cross-cultural interactions.

Prerequisites: FME1000 and FME1001 or MOB1000 and MOB1010

MOB1010 Organizational Behavior
4 Foundation Management CreditsThe content of MOB1010 is equivalent to the material covered in FME1000 and FME1001. Students who are enrolled in FME therefore cannot enroll in this course.Organizational Behavior is designed to help you improve your effectiveness as an individual contributor, team member, and leader in your current and future work environments. This course centers on developing your critical thinking regarding the complex circumstances that surround why people behave as they do in organizations and on using your knowledge to take more effective action and influence individuals and the wider organization in an ethical manner. Topics we will explore include emotional intelligence, behavioral styles, managing diversity, power and influence, negotiations, and culture. To become an entrepreneurial leader in a start-up venture, an established organization, or a social venture, you need to engage your understanding of organizational behavior.

Prerequisites: None

STR3500: Scaling Strategy: Mastering the Four Stages from Idea to $10 Billion

4 advanced management credits

How do the most successful founders transform their idea into a large, fast-growing company? Scaling Strategy answers this question by investigating three fundamental questions:
- What are the stages through which an organization must evolve to turn a new business idea into a fast-growing public company?
- How can leaders capture the opportunities and overcome the challenges at each of these stages?
- How can CEOs assess their ability to lead their organization through the next stage of scaling?

Scaling Strategy explores these questions through a specific scaling framework developed by Professor Cohan and complemented with the work of other experts in the field of scaling strategy. As described below in Appendix A: Core Scaling Concepts, the course presents and applies concepts such as:

- Four stages of scaling - during which leaders seek to achieve different business objectives that are essential to transforming an idea into a large company;
- Seven scaling levers - the management tools that leader use to achieve these objectives; and
- Scaling quotient - a tool for assessing the company's capabilities - both strengths and improvement opportunities - to hurdle the next scaling stage.

For more information please watch this video: https://babson.instructuremedia.com/embed/d2e3ddbb-d69a-4091-b285-1fe25c344a76

Prerequisite: STR3000

STR4510 Strategic Decision Making

(Formerly MOB4510)
4 General Credits

This course is an extension of the core Strategy courses focusing on strategy formulation and execution. It draws upon the insights from the field of strategy, economics, decision making and corporate financed and is suited for students interested in management consulting, investment management or corporate planning. It is intended to complement the course, Economics of Competitive Strategy, by focusing on how strategies are formulated and executed in specific competitive situations.

For More Information: www.kaltura.com/tiny/xx8ue

Prerequisites: ASM3300

MOB3515 Talent Management: What Many Leaders Miss

(Formerly Developing the Employee Experience (With a Human Resources Lens))
4 Advanced Management CreditsThis course is designed to make you think about managing people - or Human Resources - in new ways. The purpose of the course is to help you learn how organizational systems and processes impact how jobs are designed, who gets hired, and how individuals are developed (or not) within an organization. In addition to these topics, we'll discuss performance management, employee engagement, and employee separation. Overall, the course is designed to create comfort with the language of human resources management and understand how individuals, managers, and entrepreneurs ideally respond to human resource-related concerns.

For More Information: www.kaltura.com/tiny/p1nk5

Prerequisites: FME1000 and FME1001 or MOB1010

MOB3526 Values Based Entrepreneurial Leadership
4 Advanced Management Credits

This course has been created specifically for students who wish to develop their capability as a values based entrepreneurial leader. Specifically, the course is about helping students to better understand and develop their own values and learn how effectively apply those values as a leader. Being a successful entrepreneurial leader requires a clear set of values and a willingness to allow those values to govern decision-making beyond simple decision rubrics like profit maximization.

For more information: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/0l0yj

Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (EPS1000 and MOB1010)